


Knights In Blanket Armor

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Series: Dark Matter [17]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Sickfic, Sleepovers, Sleepy Cuddles, Touch-Starved, and i had to write him in halfway through, can you believe I forgot Yorak was on the castle at this point in time, his ears!, yet another space illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 03:02:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16823821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: Keith's unnaturally cold and really,reallywants a hug, or maybe a full-on cuddle. Luckily, there's plenty of people on the Castle right now that are quite willing to do that.





	Knights In Blanket Armor

Keith was in a vague amount of pain. This was odd. He was also cold, which was not so odd. The Castle was always cold, but it never seemed to be quite  _ this _ cold.

He was currently sitting in Scarlet’s cockpit, Lance’s jacket he’d stolen last night when he’d realized his jacket just wasn’t cutting it anymore zipped up, his pile of stolen blankets wrapped around him with one up like a hood to warm his ears, Yorak curled on his lap, wishing that maybe Lance would come find him and wrap him up in a hug and warm him up. He’d also accept a hug from Shiro. Shiro was a solid warm wall who gave great big-brother bear hugs and never hesitated when he said he wanted one or maybe Sasa she was awkward about it sometimes but she gave great hugs and hell right now he could just use a hug he’d take it from anyone--

This was an unnaturally cheesey thought process. But he was cold even though he could feel Scarlet trying to help, and his skin felt like stinging cold fire everywhere and he just really,  _ really _ wanted physical contact, not just Scarlet, someone to  _ cuddle him.  _

So. Odd.

With a sigh Keith decided that he was going to get a hug faster if he went and found people instead of waiting for them to wonder why he hadn’t made his way to the bridge for their after-dinner meeting yet. Or, for that matter, why he hadn’t been at dinner. Yorak accidentally knocked one of his blankets fell off his shoulders as he stood up. He looked down forlornly at it, ears drooping, unwilling to bend over to grab it and risk the other two falling off. He paused at the sensation of his ears drooping; the movement still weirded him out sometimes even several movements after the whole….thing.

Keith shuffled his way out the Lion and down the corridor, Yorak trailing him. Scarlett’s soft purring followed him, wishing she could help more. The trailing end of one of his blankets got stuck in the elevator doors; he had to yank at it until it popped free and allowed them to close.

Several faces turned towards him once he shuffled onto the bridge. “Hi.”

“Are you okay?”

Keith supposed he must look like quite the sight. He hadn’t really slept very well for a few days, if at all, and he hadn’t bothered to brush his hair that morning because every yank felt like an ice spike in his skull. Add onto that helmet hair from training and the pile of blankets and, well… “Little cold.”

Allura tapped at the main console for a moment. “The Castle’s environmental controls are at optimal parameters even for your hybrid biology. No fluctuations since we dropped the Blade-children on Ambar.”

Keith humphed and pulled the blankets closer. “Well I’m cold.” He turned his eyes away from the concerned looks. He was just cold, it wasn’t like he was badly injured or sick.

Footsteps padded towards him and he looked up (and his ears swiveled, which was still weird) to find Krolia standing next him, a frown on her face. She raised a hand, aiming for his forehead. “Sasa, what--” Oh. That felt really good. The small bit of contact finally chased the ice out of his skin in that tiny spot. He relaxed infinitesimally, leaning slightly into it. 

“Hm. Zivasaklaz probably.”

Keith opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) and blinked up at her. “...touch..cold? What?” He bit back an embarrassing whining noise as she withdrew her hand but couldn’t prevent his ears drooping. Yorak rubbed his face against his leg, a welcome bit of warm contact. It was good, but not as good as that had felt.

“Galran virus. Usually it occurs in infants or toddlers, but I suppose you never had the chance to be exposed to it….you must have picked it up from one of the children. It lowers the body-temperature drastically, but that usually isn’t fatal.”

“Usually isn’t fatal.” Keith glanced over at Shiro’s unimpressed voice. 

She continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “It also makes the affected, um...what’s the English word…sticky? What’s thuzodtupsae?”

Keith snorted. “Definitely not sticky. Clingy?”

Krolia snapped her fingers. “That’s it. The affected is extremely clingy until the virus is clear. It takes a movement or two to incubate, so I’m not surprised it’s only showing up now, and usually runs its course in about a movement. How long have you been feeling cold?”

“.....three quintants.”

Krolia let out a noise somewhere between a sigh and a growl.  _ “Keith.” _

“I didn’t think it was important!”

Shiro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Keith, I think we’ve established at this point that you being cold is a very important thing.”

“What about other symptoms?”

“Liiiike?”

Krolia gave a little shrug. “I have no idea how the symptoms would show up in a human. Do you feel...clingy?

“Uhh...my skin feels...stinging? And it almost felt a lot worse when you touched me earlier but then it was better. Yorak also causes that?”

“That sounds a little like touch-starvation,” Hunk mused from his seat, “I suppose that could fall under “clingy.””

Keith barely had time to take a breath to refute that before it was almost knocked from his lungs. Krolia almost hauled him off the ground as she pulled him into a tight hug. “Tirkunmar, kitokva,” she murmured into his hair, “you’re supposed to tell people these things.” He was enveloped in a warmth he hadn’t felt for a good movement and the stinging in his skin dissipated as she held him longer in the hug. Keith relaxed against her and buried his face in her shoulder. He hummed an acknowledgement, any energy he had to respond to that focused on just how much better this felt. One of her hands moved up and attempted to card through his hair before moving to idly untangle it.

The teams voices felt far away. He registered Shiro asking if there was anything they could do to help and Coran telling him he didn’t think so. “Maybe some antiviral substance, but it sounds like by the time I get something together that won’t make him more sick it’ll be out of his system. I’m not entirely sure how to treat those symptoms…”

“Wait,” Lance gasped. “If this virus is making Keith touch-starved, do you know what this means?”

Keith did not know what this meant, and was concerned about the excitement in his boyfriend’s voice. He didn’t want to move to ask him though, Sasa was warm and comfortable and driving the stinging out of his skin and he was cold and tired and she wouldn’t mind if he just….kept his eyes closed for a minute…

He didn’t exactly register how he ended up in the lounge. He was pretty sure Krolia had picked him up at some point, but other than that he had no idea. He blinked his eyes open to find himself curled up against his mom on one of the couches. Yorak was splayed out on her lap, his head on Keith’s thighs. Her hand was still untangling his hair. He spotted his boots sitting in a corner of the room. “Sasa?”

“Hey, Keithva. The others are collecting blankets.”

He blinked slowly. “Why?”

“Lance yelled something about a sleepover?”

“Oh. Okay.”

“You still cold?”

“Yeah.”

She pulled him as close as she could and her hand moved down to rub circles onto his back. They sat in contented silence for a while and Keith had almost fallen asleep when the other six burst into the room. 

“Your knights in blanket armor have arrived!” Lance announced. Keith managed a snort. Lance plopped most of his pile next to him, then added the last one to the set Keith had brought with him. He scratched Yorak behind the ears and leaned down to press a soft kiss to Keith’s forehead. “Jeez, you are cold.”

Keith bit back another whine because Lance was  _ warm _ but obviously didn’t do a very good job because Lance gave him a sympathetic smile. “I promise once we set these up I will give you the biggest hug you have ever gotten and cuddle you until you fall asleep.”

Somewhere in their exchange Hunk, Shiro, Coran, and Allura had managed to cover the floor of the lounge in mattresses. Keith watched as Lance and Pidge covered them with their load of blankets. Lance spent what seemed like an exorbitant amount of time making sure the blankets were just right before he turned to Keith and pronounced: “Alright! Cuddle time!”

Yorak barked, clambered off the couch, and immediately jumped on top of Lance. He fell backwards into the mattress with an  _ “oof!” _ and Keith hid a giggle in his mom’s side. 

“I didn’t mean you, you big oaf, but okay then.” 

Keith stood and shuffled over the mattresses to Lance. After a moment of consideration he figured out the best way to sit down without losing his blankets and did so. Yorak got off of Lance and licked Keith’s face before heading back to Krolia. Lance grabbed his arm and pulled him down so he was half on top of him. Krolia dropped a blanket on top of them before sitting on Keith’s other side.

He vaguely registered the rest of the team situating themselves around them. Hunk was on Lance’s other side, Pidge squished between them. Shiro had ended up with his head near Keith’s, Allura at his side with Coran on her other. Yorak curled up on top of his and Lance’s legs.

Keith melted against Lance’s chest. One of Lance’s hands twisted around and scratched the back of his ears. Another hand, warmer and proportioned slightly differently, rubbed circles on his back. His vocal cords produced a purr almost without permission.

“Better?”

Keith’s only response was another purr. The stinging in his skin was almost gone and between the blankets and having his family squished around and against him the cold had been chased from his body. Even Scarlet seemed happier, her presence a warm purr in the back of his mind. He quietly drifted off to sleep to someone’s off-key humming.

* * *

Most of the others dropped off quickly after Keith did, but not Shiro. He tried to distract himself from Keith via reading over reports from the latest round of Coalition engagements, but it didn’t work. He gave up with a sigh and shifted into a sitting position.

Shiro turned around to check on his brother and found that Krolia was also still awake. She had laid down, but was still rubbing small circles on Keith’s back. She had a look in her eyes that he couldn’t place. “Hey. He’ll be okay.”

She smiled softly. “I know. It’s just...times like this I’m reminded of how much of his childhood I missed.” The smile fell off her face. “I know...I know there was no way I could have taken him with me. War is no place for a child. But he ended up here anyway...and he had to go through a lot on Earth. Sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake.”

Shiro understood the look in her eyes now. “You can’t change the past, Krolia. I don’t think you’re ever going to know the answer to that. All you can do is come to terms with your own decisions.”

She sighed. “I know. We’ve talked about it, and he says he doesn’t resent it but...I still feel like I’m a bad mother sometimes.”

“Honestly? You’re doing a pretty damn good job of being a mother. You obviously care about him a lot, I mean, that’s why you’re on the Castle right now, and he cares about you in return. Not even Okasan managed to get to the place you are. Just...continue being there for him. That’s all he wants.”

“Thank you, Shiro.”

“Anytime.”

Krolia shifted slightly so she could see him better. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”

“I am a grown-ass adult I sleep when I want.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You are not yet twenty-five of your Earth years old, which means your brain is still--”

Shiro laughed. “Alright, alright, I’ll sleep. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, kitok.”

Shiro settled down and finally slept to the sound of Krolia’s off-key humming.   
  


**Author's Note:**

>  ~~the author may be feeling Slightly Alone and definitely stressed and projecting a need onto Keith.~~  
>  I feel like Galra like to sleep in cuddle puddles when they can but they also have a sense of privacy so not _always._ Keith takes a while to warm up to this fact but once Krolia shows up he's much more likely to join in.


End file.
